At 13 years old, Johanna's life was so threatened by dangerous gangs in El Salvador that she couldn't leave her home or go to school without fear.

Gang members knew her father was living in the United States and sending money back. What the family saw as a way to survive, the gangs saw as an opportunity for extortion.

"My mom was robbed many times by the gangs," said Johanna, speaking Spanish. "They told my mom they would hurt and kill us if she stopped giving them money."

After a brutal attack left her mother mentally incapacitated, Johanna was left to be raised by her grandparents. At times, she took care of her younger siblings.

Her father, residing in Connecticut, saw no choice. And in March, Johanna made the perilous journey to America alone. Two years earlier, her brother, Wilbur, made a similar trip.

Now 14, Johanna represents thousands of undocumented, unaccompanied migrant children who have crossed into the U.S. this year, fleeing violence from Central America.

As with each of the four of the young people recently interviewed for this report, Johanna's full name is being withheld for safety reasons.

Nearly 58,000 such children were caught on the southwest border with Mexico from last October to July -- almost double the number intercepted during the same period a year ago, according to numbers from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

"All of my young clients are from Central America," said Danielle Briand, an attorney at the Esperanza Center for Law and Advocacy in Bridgeport. "They are mostly fleeing violence and have no caretakers back home."

Last week, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's administration denied a request to temporarily house up to 2,000 minors at Southbury Training School. The Connecticut location is one of many the federal government has considered across the country to temporarily house migrants.

"Sadly, the governor chose the wrong path," the group said in a news release. "We are disappointed by his actions and demand that he reverse course and seek alternative sites to house these children. This would come at no cost to Connecticut taxpayers -- all that would be required is for the governor and his administration to be compassionate and lend a helping hand."

During a news conference last Wednesday announcing new funds for a second Metro-North station in Bridgeport, Malloy was asked about the situation. He said he was sympathetic to the plight of the children but added, "I said since 2006, we should be controlling our border. ... Guatemala should take care of Guatemala's problem ... Mexico needs to stop the flow."

On Friday, the state said it didn't think it had any locations to house the children.

"I agree, that's not a suitable place to put traumatized children," she said, of Southbury Training School.

The nonprofit International Institute helps those youths reunited with family get services such as English classes and legal help. Anderson said the surge in unaccompanied minors crossing the border has been felt by her organization, which she said has taken on 26 cases so far in 2014, compared to about five last year.

Anderson said with no police or government entity offering protection back home, these children had no choice but to flee.

"In one case, the gangs came to this kid and told him, `We will kill you if you don't join us,' " Anderson said. "The gangs then put body parts on his porch as a threat. This is a child."

Fleeing

David was only 10 years old when he saw his brother murdered in Guatemala, due to a land dispute between his family and men known as "narcos" -- people connected to the drug trade.

The family quickly sold their home and moved away to avoid further conflict, but the experience left them in shambles. Many of David's siblings came to the U.S. to fill the void in the family's income.

David said he was so traumatized that he stopped going to school. He eventually made his way north to join his brothers in 2013.

"I felt like I couldn't do anything with my life," said Veronica, 14, who fled extreme poverty in El Salvador when she arrived in America last September.

Veronica recalls working before the age of 10. She was raised by grandparents, she said, after her mother tried numerous times to sell her off as a baby.

While the four young people interviewed, including Johanna's brother, Wilbur, came to the United States at different times and by different means, they had similar, harrowing experiences. Children who migrate alone face violence, sexual abuse and physically arduous journeys, with stints in the desert and often stretches of time without food.

Wilbur rode atop the infamous "Beast" -- the train that runs north through Mexico and has been featured in movies like "Sin Nombre."

"It was really hot, and we had to hang on really tight to stay on top," Wilbur said. "The gangs would come and rob people on top of the train."

At one point, David said, he was left for seven days alone in a stash house in Mexico, which quickly ran out of food. His only choice was prayer, he said.

Most of the young people described the same experience after crossing the border -- being apprehended and transported to short-term detention centers nicknamed "hieleras," which translates to "cooler" or "icebox," because they are so cold.

"They gave out aluminum blankets to every other person," Johanna said. "People were fighting for them."

After being transferred to a Health and Humans Services center in Texas, many stayed for longer than a month, received schooling and were finally sent to stay with family members.

Since the children's arrival, the border has been so inundated with minors that the government has set up three temporary shelters there.

Nine thousand unaccompanied minors were caught in May alone.

Humanitarian Crisis

On July 8, President Barack Obama asked Congress to approve $3.7 billion in emergency funds to help. Most of that money was to go toward dealing with children in the United States, but some was to be used to speed up deportations and deter people from coming.

In June, Vice President Joe Biden flew to Central America to clear up rumors that those coming to the U.S. would be allowed to stay. Next week, the presidents of the three countries sending the most children -- Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador -- are scheduled to meet at the White House with Obama to further discuss the crisis.

Republicans have used the issue to lambast Obama, saying policies like his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals have encouraged minors to come here thinking they could get a free pass. To be eligible for DACA, a person must have lived continuously in the U.S. since June 15, 2007.

The four children interviewed said DACA played no role in their decision to come. Wilbur came before DACA was announced.

"Their decision to come isn't because they think they are going to get something out of it, but because they want to get out of the situation they are in," said Yazmin Rodriguez, another attorney at the Esperanza Center. "I'm not sure their vision is that extended ... to think about a work permit."

Even Pope Francis has chimed in, calling for the international community to find a solution.

The problem is not only America's. Since 2009, Mexico, Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Belize have jointly documented a 712 percent increase in the number of asylum applications from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, according to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, both D-Conn., were in Hartford earlier this month to call for comprehensive immigration reform. They also called for the children to be treated as refugees because they can't be sent back safely, echoing sentiments of advocates.

"We have to develop a real response to the humanitarian crisis" said Anderson. "Every child deserves to have their story told."

A better life

Here in Connecticut, Wilbur, 16, said he is a getting good grades and understands English. David plays for his high school soccer team and plans to play football next year.

Briand and Rodriguez are working to get the children asylum, due to their dangerous situations back home, through special immigrant juvenile visas.

The Obama administration, however, has indicated it would request a change in immigration law so that future unaccompanied migrant children from Central America would not be guaranteed due process in immigration court. If the government's request were to become law, children like Johanna, David, Wilbur and Veronica who are caught at the border could be sent back more quickly.

Briand said that would be unjust.

"We have the resources to absorb the flow and the moral obligation to do so," she said.

While here, the children think of others back home. Relentlessly, the gangs recently attacked Johanna's and Wilbur's 10-year-old brother on his way to school, the siblings said.

They said going back is not an option, and they worry about their cases.

"If we go back, people think we have money and we will be targets," said Veronica. "Once you come here, everyone thinks you are a millionaire."

While their cases are pending, the children are enjoying the everyday things taken for granted in the U.S.

"I like it here because I can go out at night," said David. "In Guatemala, you couldn't leave your home."